The Turkish Cypriot teachers’ union KTÖS says it is ready to take on “constructive responsibilities” and support specific steps to ensure that Turkish Cypriots maintain direct contact with the international community in sport, culture, the arts and education until a final settlement to the Cyprus problem is reached.
In a written statement, the union’s secretary-general, Burak Maviş, said the Turkish Cypriot community existed through its trade unions, municipalities, educational institutions, sports clubs, artists and civil society organisations and “cannot be ignored, isolated from the world or collectively punished”.
ELAM's influence
Maviş referred to what he described as the outcome of political and diplomatic initiatives led by the far-right ELAM party to cancel the NEXUS music festival in Kyrenia and a Barcelona children’s football camp.
He said the Zamna festival, traditional dance events, the inclusion of universities in international rankings and contacts between foreign politicians and Turkish Cypriots had also become targets.
Maviş said ELAM had announced its intentions by declaring that “tolerance is over” and presented the cancellations as “victories”.
However, he argued that the issue should not be seen as limited to ELAM’s statements, claiming that diplomatic channels of the Greek Cypriot “administration”, the Cyprus Football Association (CFA), certain representatives in the European Parliament and various political circles were also involved in such initiatives.
'Isolation becoming normalised'
He further argued that the far right’s policy of isolating Turkish Cypriots had become part of mainstream politics and the practices of state institutions in the Republic of Cyprus.
“Preventing music, art, culture and children from taking part in sport will not bring victory. The only result will be increased mistrust between the communities and a further deepening of Cyprus’s division,” he said.
Maviş claimed that the Greek Cypriot political elite treated the Republic of Cyprus as though it belonged to a single community, and that the authority derived from membership of the United Nations and European Union had been used as a tool to punish Turkish Cypriots and isolate them from the international community.
Such an approach was incompatible with statements supporting a federal settlement, he added.
“A political leadership that claims to be building a common future with Turkish Cypriots does not try to isolate the children, young people, athletes and artists of this community from the world. Equal cooperation cannot be established by making the other community invisible,” he said.
'Failure at the expense of TCs'
Maviş also said that while Turkey claimed to recognise the “TRNC”, it had not fulfilled the conditions for recognition that would connect Turkish Cypriots with the international community.
The Greek Cypriot leadership, he continued, claimed to seek a federal settlement but used its international influence to isolate Turkish Cypriots.
The future of the Turkish Cypriot community was not condemned to these two approaches, he said, arguing that recent developments once again demonstrated the need for a new approach to Cyprus negotiations.
“Open-ended processes that produce no results, where every failure comes at the expense of Turkish Cypriots alone, are no longer acceptable,” said Maviş, who is also a teacher and trade unionist.
Source: CNA
